1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for performing printing with the use of a special gloss material and a coloring material.
2. Related Art
A method for performing printing by forming a basecoat layer on a print target medium first and then by printing an image or the like on the basecoat layer is known in the art. An example of such a printing method of the related art is disclosed in, for example, JP-T-2002-530229 and JP-A-2005-52984. The related-art printing method can be applied to various kinds of printing. For example, it can be applied to the reproduction of a metallic color in various color tones. Metallic color reproduction can be performed as follows. For example, a layer of metallic ink is formed on a print target medium first. Then, printing is performed thereon with the use of color ink in such a manner that the color ink is laid over the metallic ink.
Since metallic ink is comparatively expensive, there is a demand for a technique for reducing the amount of use of the metallic ink efficiently. Such a problem to be solved is not unique to metallic ink, which contains a metallic pigment that produces the appearance of metallic gloss. For example, there is a demand for a technique for achieving economical use of various kinds of special gloss ink such as ink that contains a pigment that produces pearly appearance or similar glossy appearance, ink that produces other effects, and the like. In addition, the problem to be solved identified above is not unique to special gloss ink used in an ink-jet printer but is common to various types of printing apparatuses for performing printing with the use of a special gloss material and a coloring material.